Posted June 27, 2005
Ramallah is an active and vibrant city, full of people, culture,
and international activity. It is located in the West
Bank/Occupied Palestinian Territories, and getting in and out
requires gaining passage through a checkpoint maintained by
the Israeli military.

Qalandia
checkpoint guard tower at the entrance
to
Ramallah. Grout
writes that these
pictures
"are of things that I see here every
day."

In
Ramallah I have been working for an organization called the
Mandela Institute for Human Rights. The bulk of the Institute’s
work involves prison visits, the means by which its lawyers keep
track of Palestinian prisoners (who they are, where they are
held, whether they are under interrogation, in administrative
detention, charged, or sentenced). The visits also allow the
lawyers to monitor compliance by the Israeli military and Palestinian
Authority with international standards for the treatment of prisoners
and the conditions of facilities.

I have been working on a project regarding female Palestinian
prisoners. When I finish, I should have compiled information
on their numbers, where they are held, their educational and
marital status, age (some are juveniles), health status, and
whether or not they have children (some have given birth in
prison). Also included will be information on the legal status
of each prisoner—that is, whether she has been charged
and sentenced, or is instead under administrative detention.
I will be researching sources of international law, such as
the Geneva Conventions and the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights, in order to understand the different
or additional legal protections that exist for women and juvenile
female prisoners.

Qalandia refugee camp
on the outer edge of Ramallah

For a somewhat separate project I will focus on the legal
implications of administrative detention. Those in administrative
detention are situated differently from prisoners who have
been charged, tried, and sentenced. Under administrative detention,
a prisoner has not been charged or tried, but can nonetheless
be detained indefinitely by Israel via six-month renewable
sentences. As of one year ago there were more than 700 Palestinians
in administrative detention.

This wall divides Palestinian territory in order to protect
Israeli settlements within the Palestinian area.